Affordable units, Boys/Girls Club coming to East New York

Affordable units, Boys/Girls Club coming to East New York

By Linda Collins Brooklyn Daily Eagle

With East New York continuing to be a major area of focus by the city and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), it was announced this week that a developer has been selected for another affordable project in East New York: this one on Livonia Avenue.

Dunn Development Corp., a Brooklyn developer, was chosen through a competitive Request for Proposals (RFP) process to develop the first phase of the Livonia Avenue Initiative in the East New York section of Brooklyn’s Community District 5, according to HPD Commissioner Mathew Wambua.

The four city-owned sites in Phase I, collectively named “Livonia Commons,” are located on Livonia between Williams and Pennsylvania Avenues.

Livonia Commons will create 270 new units of low-income rental housing, approximately 11,000 square feet of new ground-floor retail space and 21,000 square feet of community facility space.

Additionally, a fifth parcel will be developed by the Boys Clubs of New York and will provide youth programming and facilities for the boys and girls of the community.

Subsequent phases of the Livonia Avenue Initiative will be focused on continuing the transformation of the area into a vibrant mixed-use housing and retail corridor, according to Wambua.

Under Mayor Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace Plan, 5,281 affordable units have been created and preserved within Brooklyn Community Board 5 in East New York.

For Brooklyn Community Board 16 in Brownsville, the number is 3,313., where recent activity includes construction of 368 affordable units in five multi-family projects.